Education

We support education in a variety of ways. Our endowment of the Barbers’ Company Professor of Surgical Anatomy at the Royal College of Surgeons of England recalls the Company’s important contribution to the development of anatomy teaching in England. Our McNee Awards are made to mature medical students who already have a non-medical degree and therefore do not qualify for loans from the Student Loans Company.

From the Raven Bequest, awards are made to surgeons, usually specialist registrars, who are travelling to an overseas centre of excellence where a new or highly specialised technique or procedure can be observed and mastered before the recipient returns to practise or teach the technique in this country. There are also awards for educational projects undertaken by members of the Medical Artists’ Association. The nursing profession is supported by the award of scholarships to nurses who are undertaking projects to extend their clinical skills.

The Barbers’ Charities have, since 2009, been helping to fund an Outreach Worker based at King’s College London, who visits maintained sector secondary schools in Inner London boroughs to encourage and advise pupils considering a medical career. We also fund Medicine in Action lectures, and Medical Activity days for young people. Many of those attending these events are accepted onto the “Extended Medical Degree Programme” run by King’s College, and we award prizes to students on this course. The success of this Outreach scheme since 2009 has now led to the creation of our ‘Outreach 2020’ Appeal, which aims to raise £200,000 from sources beyond the Company to match our own commitment. The object is to double the proven effectiveness of the Outreach scheme by funding a second Outreach worker who can visit more schools and encourage more young people to believe that they too can train as doctors and so help them to realise that ambition.

Education of a more general kind is supported by giving prizes to pupils at several schools and by supporting the scholarships fund at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama.